


My name is Newt

by SelenicSoul83



Category: The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Gen, Spoilers, The Fever Code - Freeform, if you haven't read the prologue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-16
Updated: 2016-04-16
Packaged: 2018-06-02 14:22:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6569728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SelenicSoul83/pseuds/SelenicSoul83
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The boy's world had been turned upside down, all in a matter of minutes. He lost his parents and they took away his sister. Now he was scared for what was coming next.</p>
            </blockquote>





	My name is Newt

**Author's Note:**

> I felt inspired after reading the Fever Code prologue. I also couldn't focus in class because I kept thinking about it, so started writing instead.  
> Let's just say I have very strong feelings about young Newt.

“Where’s my sister? Where’s Lizzy?” he asked for the umpteenth time. Still, the man standing next to him didn’t answer.

He stood in front of the man who’d taken him first from his parents, then his sister. He stomped his foot. The man did not budge. Frustrated, the boy kicked at his shin, surprising him.

He cursed. “You little-”

The boy saw his chance, started down the long, white hallway. Behind him the man shouted and came running after him. The boy glanced back and all too soon realized he wasn’t going to keep his lead much longer. When he looked in front of him again, a woman in a white coat came walking around the corner. She was reading some things off of her clipboard, wouldn’t have noticed him if it wasn’t for the man shouting, “Hold that brat!”

The woman looked up, saw the boy running towards her. It took her a moment to assess the situation, but then she lunged for the boy, wrapping both arms around his small frame.

“Let go!” he demanded. He trashed at her arms, her head, tried kicking at her legs, but to no avail. She succeeded in avoiding any harm. Within seconds the man was at their side, taking the boy from her. The boy feared the hold the man had on him might break his wrist. He was dragged back to where they’d been waiting outside some office.

In the doorway now stood a woman the boy thought to be in her fifties.

“He’s a troublemaker, I see.” She glared down at the boy. She didn’t look very interested in him at all. “Take him to the other kids. Get him some clothes and a bed,” she ordered with a dismissive wave of her hand. “I’ll take care of it tomorrow. How is the girl doing?”

“They ran the tests. All came back positive,” the man said. “Last I heard she was screaming for this one.” He nodded down at the boy, who winced away.

“But she’ll make a fine subject,” the woman said. “Go on. I’ll see you at the next meeting.”

The man forced a curt bow, apparently not liking being dismissed as such. “I will see you then, Chancellor.”

The woman turned around, walked into her office and let the door fall shut. The man shook his head and muttered something under his breath. The boy guessed it wasn’t anything nice.

* * *

 

He was dragged out of the building, the man’s grip on his arm not faltering for even a second. The boy had already changed his mind about running off anyway. Too many people. And where would he even go? He had no idea where to find his sister.

“What’s this?” he asked, looking around in the large hall. They kept walking to the front, to the thick metal gates.

“We’re going for a ride,” the man answered. He gestured to some vans at the far end.

“We’re going outside?”

The man grinned. “What? Not happy?”

“What about the crazies?” the boy asked. His parents would never let him and his sister go outside. It was too dangerous.

“We have means to hold them off,” the man said confidently.

Before entering the van, they were joined by a woman dressed in a similar fashion as the man. All clean and brushed up. The boy could not quite make out what was written on the patches on their sleeves. He wondered if the mismatched bulletproof vests were really necessary, and why he wasn’t wearing one.

He was put in the back of the van with her. Two benches ran along the side of it, leaving open space in the middle. The gate clattered open, and the van jolted to a start. Moments later they were driving across the ruined earth.

The boy was soon sitting on his knees, trying to look through the tinted windows. He couldn’t see a thing. It was already too dark outside.

“Sit down, will you? You should put on a seatbelt, too,” the woman said. She grabbed one of the belts, directing him to sit down next to her. The boy hesitated.

Then, to the other side of the van, he thought he’d seen lights sparkle in the distance. Letting his curiosity get the better of him, he ran over to take a look.

As he moved across the empty space, with nothing to hold on to, the van jerked to a halt. The boy flew forward, landing hard on his knees and scraping his hands.

The woman was with him in a second, helping him up and swiftly setting him down on one of the benches. He hadn’t hurt himself too bad.

“Newton’s first law, kid,” she said with a grin. “Inertia.”

The boy wasn’t laughing, instead looked down at his hands. They were red and stung a little. He’d normally have his mum look after it, probably bandage it up. Lizzy would never let her do that, no matter how badly she hurt herself. Sometimes, however, she would allow her brother to fix her up.

“Maybe we should call you Newt,” the woman mused, pulling him from his own thoughts.

“Huh?”

She smiled. In fact, she even looked kind. Kinder than anyone he’d run into so far. She ruffled his hair. “Never mind, kid.” She turned to the front of the van, banged on the wall. “Hey! What’s going on out there?” she asked.

The driver shouted something back the boy did not understand. It couldn’t be anything too bad, because the woman simply sighed and sat back down. The boy now obeyed and put on his seatbelt.

A few minutes later they were driving again. He never knew what had caused them to stop in the first place.

Half an hour went by before they reached their destination. The woman left them as soon as they entered, and the boy felt betrayed.

* * *

 

The man who’d been dragging him around all day now lead him into the giant building, through the numerous hallways. Finally, they stopped in front of a single door. The man opened it up, revealing a room, the walls lined with a couple of bunkbeds.

“There you go, Newt,” he said.

The boy frowned. “That’s not my name,” he objected.

The man smirked. “It is now.”

Before the boy could say anymore, the man started moving around. He walked to the back of the room, where he opened a couple of drawers. At the third try, he appeared to have found what he was looking for. He held out a simple blue shirt and pants for the boy to put on.

“Just give a yell if it doesn’t fit,” he said, before turning around to give the boy at least some privacy to change.

After he put it on the boy said, “Fits fine.”

“Great.” The man looked around the room, as if unsure of what else he had to do. He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m sure the others will be back soon enough. It’s already quite late anyway.”

The boy had no idea who he was talking about, but he didn’t have time to think about it before voices started to stream in from the hallway, through the door that was left ajar. Moments later there were about five kids standing just inside the room, staring at him.

“New kid?” one of them finally asked. The boy couldn’t tell who it had been.

The man put a hand on the boy’s shoulder, urging him forward. “Yes. This is Newt, and I expect you boys to look after him, alright?”

Some of the boys nodded, speaking words of agreement, others only stood by wordlessly.

There was one thing the boy had to clear up. “I’m not ‘Newt’,” he said, glaring up at the man. “My name is-” His words were cut short when someone threw an arm over his shoulder. The boy looked to his left, where he was greeted with the smiling face of a boy probably about his age. He was taller, though, with warm brown skin and buzzed hair.

“Nice to meet you,” the boy said before he could say any more. “I’m Alby.”

He looked at this kid through squinted eyes, glanced at the man, back at Alby. “And is that your real name, or…” He didn’t know how to finish that sentence.

Alby grinned. “It is,” he said. He put both his hands on the boy’s shoulders. In a softer voice, inaudible to the man, he added. “Just go along. It’ll save you some trouble.”

The boy nodded, though he wasn’t about to give up so easily. He’d already lost his parents, had no idea what happened to his sister, and this whole place was starting to get weirder by the minute. He wanted to at least hold on to his own name.

* * *

Six months passed before a new boy was assigned to their part of the facility. He was a skinny Asian kid with mussed up black hair who looked positively scared when he entered the sleeping quarters.

He stood in front of the boys, glancing between them and his own feet.

One of them stepped forward, holding out his hand. “Hi,” he said to the newcomer. “My name is Newt. Nice to meet you.”


End file.
